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Seaford HS Committee Recommends Eliminating Class Rankings

"Unhealthy competition" from high achieving students cited as one of main arguments for adjusting ranking system.

The Seaford High School Shared Decision Making Committee has recommended that the district do away with traditional class rankings.

Seaford Superintendent Brian Conboy said during his administrative report at Thursday night night’s school board that the committee has suggested only identifying the valedictorian and salutatorian in each graduating class starting in 2014. The committee’s recommendation also urged notifying students who are in the top 25 of the class. Conboy said similar changes have been made in other districts.

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“One of the things they said in the memo to the board was that they felt it was encouraging some unhealthy competition among the high achievers,” said Conboy about the reason for the committee’s recommendation to stop class rankings.

Conboy said the reason why the top 25 of a class would still be determined is that many colleges look at being in the top 10 percent or 5 percent when choosing applicants. He said any changes to class ranking procedures would need to be approved by the school board.

Richard DiBlasio, vice president of the Seaford school board, suggested during Thursday's meeting that any adjustment to the class ranking system not be made until the current freshmen have graduated. 

BeeKay January 18, 2013 at 06:15 pm
This is becoming the norm. http://levittown-ny.patch.com/groups/school-news/p/levittown-schools-eliminate-class-rankings
Rosalie Aprile January 18, 2013 at 06:37 pm
And everyone should get a trophy just for playing too.
Chris January 18, 2013 at 07:48 pm
The twisted logic of political correctness is once again being used to level the playing field. Students who do their best, who are disciplined ,hard working, and motivated should not be recognized for their effort.
Unfortunately this mental disorder is rampant in society today. Too bad our superintendent feels the need to apply these actions to our students. Maybe it is time for a change. Mr. Conboy needs to rethink his position or think about retiring.
Joe January 18, 2013 at 09:01 pm
HA, that's exactly what I was thinking when I read this!
Lilly Hayden January 18, 2013 at 09:29 pm
That is just so wrong to do. Besides the fact that it encourages students to do better ( maybe that is what is viewed as "unhealthy competition") many colleges like to see the exact ranking. At this rate, why not eliminate the valedictorian and salutatorian as well. Wouldn't there be unhealthy competition between them as well?
BeeKay January 18, 2013 at 10:04 pm
Oh stop the bashing of BC and everything Seaford related. Although I am not a believer in the "everyone gets a trophy" philosophy, I understand the movement to eliminate rankings. Here is an excerpt from the article that I linked above regarding Levittown doing away with rankings:
"The elimination of class rankings was approved unanimously by the board, who discussed the possibility at length during December's planning session. At Wednesday's meeting, Superintendent Dr. James Grossane told residents that class rankings hurt districts like theirs, where students with high averages are ranked in the bottom 50 percent of the class. Grossane said that it causes colleges to overlook those students. "If you don’t rank, they’re more inclined to look at your transcript, look at your body of work, look at your application more closely," he said. The decision was also made in order to keep up with surrounding districts. Board vice president Peter Porrazzo noted before the vote that 27 of 33 surrounding districts sampled had already eliminated class ranking. Grossane added that those districts benefited from the decision. "The experiences of many school districts and numerous high schools throughout the county and throughout the area have been that they’ve seen a rise in their acceptance rates for students to more competitive and more prestigious colleges," he said. "We need to keep pace. We want to put our kids in the best possible light with their competition." "
Lilly Hayden January 18, 2013 at 10:20 pm
The students who are in the top 25 for the most part are the students who have applied themselves by taking advanced classes since middle school. They should be given an edge over those who decide in their senior year that education matters. When my student was a senior in high school, he knew others who complained that they should have taken school more seriously in their earlier grades. One of the reasons they felt that way was because of their placement in the rankings. The only competition i see within that system is the competition to obtain a higher grade, ie rank. That is to be considered unhealthy?
BeeKay January 18, 2013 at 10:32 pm
I too was a bit thrown off by the "unhealthy competition" remark. Levittown BoE/Admin did a better job of explaining their rationale behind eliminating class rank.
Chris Wendt January 19, 2013 at 12:06 pm
This decision will be totally up to the Seaford Board of Education to make, as was the decision up to the Levittown BoE, to make there. I have no horse in this race, so to speak.
But from the vantage point of being the next door neighbor to both Levittown and Seaford, if both of those districts eliminate class rankings (for whatever reasons), then the students graduating from Wantagh High in the future with their rankings intact should fare better in college admission decisions compared with future un-ranked graduates from Levittown or Seaford. Sometimes competition is not only healthy, but essential.
Robert Demarco January 19, 2013 at 12:56 pm
So typical of what is happening to this country. Competition is healthy. We reward the underachievers at the expense of the hard workers. That is the direction or so called leaders in Washington are taking the country, and it is now trickling down to education. We are developing generations of people who expect entitlements without working for them.
Diane M January 19, 2013 at 03:25 pm
The reason why this is happening is if Seaford is like Wantagh, there are so many honor roll students with 90%+ averages, whose class rank can fall somewhere at the middle or even lower than middle of the class. Everyone is a star student nowadays. This begs lots of questions and puts kids at a disadvantage in college acceptance.
Years ago, when you took a Regents exams, that score became your final class grade. Not so anymore, it is a fraction of your final grade, averaged in at a certain weighting with quarterly grades. Also, years ago, in order to score 100% on a Regents exam, you actually had to answer every single question flawlessly. Not so anymore. To score high on a Regents exams now, in some instances you only have to answer 2/3 of questions correctly (depends on particular exam). So, maybe people (the adults) should be concerned with the quality of education and academic rigor as opposed to grades first before the elimination of class rankings.
Diane M January 19, 2013 at 03:28 pm
*instead should have been used, not before in the last sentence
Lorraine DeVita January 19, 2013 at 04:10 pm
Anyone checked in with a few colleges to see if they agree with this elimination of rankings to see how they view it and how it will effect college placements? OR is everyone assuming that this is "gospel" and will EDUCATIONALY benefit the students? I dont have a viewpoint on this just making sure people arent buying a bill of goods just because some SD's find it "de rigor" to follow a trend.
What verifiable benefit does this have for the college bound student and what benefit or detriment if any to the overall quality of education? Those would be MY questions as a parent if i had a kid in school today. Could be a good thing could be something else thats what you as parents need to find out . due dilligence goes a long way in making an informed decision. ironicaly its called "doing your homework" . My only concern if it could be labled as such is with the terminology "unhealthy competetion" that to me needs to be better defined/expained.. What exactly does he /they mean by that and can examples be provided..
Robert Demarco January 19, 2013 at 04:54 pm
We seem to be bringing standards down to meet the reduced effort instead of keeping standards high or raising them to encourage students to achieve. This seems to be the norm in other areas also.
Diane M January 19, 2013 at 05:12 pm
Here is the NYS Ed explanation:
http://www.p12.nysed.gov/assessment/concht/scoring-regents.html
Father Knows Best January 19, 2013 at 08:50 pm
Chris your point is well made. This is a joke, lets reward the slackers by NOT assigning them a class #. JOKE.
Nassau gets a large percentage of this school graduates anyway and this will hurt the good students on their college applications. I really think I moved into the wrong school district.
Chris Wendt January 20, 2013 at 01:11 am
I was going to quote Dante, but have thought better of doing that.
B. A. B. January 20, 2013 at 01:45 pm
So true. That's what they in socialist countries, everyone and everything is the same.
wade blumstein January 20, 2013 at 07:53 pm
@ Chris - having kids in WHS they eliminated class rankings 2 years ago. That is what I was told at freshman orientation for parents last year.
Chris Wendt January 21, 2013 at 07:25 pm
No class rankings for Wantagh High starting with the Class of 2012.
From the District website: "In the Wantagh Public Schools...un-weighted and weighted averages are determined at the beginning of senior year. Considered in all calculations are all high school final grades including high school level courses taken in the Middle School. The un-weighted average is determined by averaging all true final course grades with the amount of credit granted as a factor. The weighted average is determined by averaging each un-weighted grade multiplied by a weight based on the pre-determined level of difficulty. Thus: Advanced Placement & College Level Courses are weighted: 1.15 Honors Courses are weighted: 1.10 Regents Courses are weighted: 1.05 Courses without Regents designation are weighted: 1.00 In this way, the more challenging program is recognized by the student’s weighted average. Beginning with the Class of 2012, Wantagh High School does not issue a class rank to its seniors." This says to me the standards are way too low, rendering the normal distribution and standard deviation almost meaningless in terms of being able derive any true sense of performance from weighted grades.
old miller January 21, 2013 at 10:48 pm
The class ranking system was easily manipulated, so much so that it became obsolete. It was no longer indicative of who worked the hardest / was the most academically inclined.
Further, grade inflation and "parental influence" when it comes to placement in honors-level and AP classes, as well as Honor Society membership, is rampant throughout much of the schools in the immediate area. Here's a question for you all- What % of students should be placed in honors-level classes? 10%? 15% I'm under the impression is that it's closer to 40% in Wantagh HS.
Matthew Provenzano January 21, 2013 at 11:12 pm
I have a very unique viewpoint on this, as I was part of a group of students who first recommended eliminating the rankings.
As far as college acceptances go, they don't care about exact rank. They want which percentile you are in in the class, which a guidance counselor can send to the school on their own. This is not a "trophy for everybody" program. Everyone knows who is a high achiever in the school and who isn't. When college acceptances come out, it's very easy to see who the "Top 25" are. That's the trophy, and that's the true bar of success because it represents a student holistically and not just by a number. There is nothing worse for a student than being labelled as a number. "He's number [x]!" and "She's number [y]!" only depersonalizes the school atmosphere into an environment that judges one not based on their character and effort, but on their number. I have lived it and I am glad to see it go. And I'm sure my former class mates are, as well. Just as an FYI, the Top 25 signed a petition to have it removed--this wasn't something the administration originally intended to do
Matthew Provenzano January 21, 2013 at 11:58 pm
My mistake--we petitioned to eliminate the re-rank in the second half. But I still stand by the social and educational benefits!

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